URGENT: Help Save Home Birth Midwifery in New York!

Photo taken shortly after J's birth by Liz Rubincam

I just received an alarming email from Choices in Childbirth, alerting me to the fact that home birth is under immediate threat right here in New York. I wanted to share the information with you in the hope that you will join me in taking action. Please take a moment to let our lawmakers know how important it is to keep home birth a legal and accessible option. As a woman who has had two home births and hopes to have more, this matter is of utmost concern to me. I hope you will help in getting the word out about this! Thank you so much.

Here is the info, as stated by Choices in Childbirth:

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

At midnight tomorrow, April 30th, the majority of New York City’s home birth midwives will no longer be able to practice legally. Unless immediate action is taken by the Governor and the NYS Department of Health the women that these midwives serve will be denied access to a home birth with their chosen provider and these providers will no longer be able to practice legally in NYS.

YOU MUST ACT NOW to save the home birth option for New York Women:

Call:

• 311 (if outside NYC, call
• Wendy Saunders, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NY State Department of Health, appointed by Governor Paterson. 518-474-8390
• Larry Mokhiber, he Secretary of the Board of Midwifery (518-474-3817, extension 130)

And say….

With the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, half of the licensed, highly trained home birth midwives serving NYC have lost their Written Practice Agreement (WPA). St Vincent’s was the only hospital in the city supportive of a woman’s right to choose a home birth and willing to sign a WPA. In the weeks since it’s announced closure, these midwives have reached out to hospitals and obstetricians all across the city looking for support, with no success. Please help us to save the homebirth option in New York.

People can also email the Governor at http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.

We are in our final hours!

Please forward this post and help us flood 311 and the Governor’s office with calls supporting home birth.

And while you’re at it, please sign our petition supporting the Midwifery Modernization Act which will remove the WPA from the midwifery law effectively removing this barrier to accessing midwifery care.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/midwifery

See NYSALM’s fact sheet about what the Midwifery Modernization Act Means for You.